Monday, September 2, 2013

"The Way of Science"

Science's effect on my worldview
Science has always been a big and important part of my worldview, but it's especially been that way in the last couple of years.
I'd say that more than science, it has been my need to understand things to the depth.

Nowadays we are a smarter specie. We know so much more about the world than we'd ever known. Nowadays it feels to me that it is ignorant to not ask the science questions about the world. To not use its help.

About a year ago I explored the idea of the Big Bang theory for the first time. It blew my mind away.
First of all, I was ashamed of not having read about it before. I think it should be mandatory for people to know what it means, or at least have any interest in the subject.
Second, being exposed to this new information, made me question a lot of things I'd taken for granted. It has changed and shaped my worldview regarding death, religion and god but mostly it assured me that my assumptions about the huge part that coincidence has in our world, were true.

I now know that everything we do is affected by absolute randomness, that is life.
I am sure of my philosophical assumption thanks to science.

An Israeli professor called Mishka Ben-David, published a book a few years ago called "Life, Love, Death" in which he decided to examine the effect science have on philosophy. In other words, his claim was that most philosophical approaches are based on ancient ideas, and that it is important to try and develop a "New Philosophy" that is based on scientific discoveries from the last 150 years.

Although trying to prove a point about the importance of accepting death throughout the book, Ben-David also points out that science must be a fundamental part of any question asked- whether it's empiric or philosophical.

Since I believe that you can never know "too much" and that it is important to examine everything, in order to try and have a better understanding of life, I also believe that any knowledge we have as individuals or as a specie should be shared and should influence our lives in order that we could be more informed and more connected-to-the-world beings.